15.1.4. The Structure of the Letters

¹ See also [Monty S. Mills, Revelations: An Exegetical Study of the Revelation to John (Dallas, TX: 3E Ministries, 1987), Rev. 2:8].

² Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1861), 65-66.

³ “The first thing in common is that every letter has a description of the Messiah taken from the description of the Glorified Son of Man found in chapter one.”—Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 47. “Each feature thus emphasized has an appropriate connection with the nature of the church, as if the manifestation of Christ were specially designed for that church. To the careless assembly at Ephesus He is the inspector who walks among the lampstands; to the oppressed flock of Smyrna threatened by persecution He is the risen Lord whom death could not destroy; to the lax church at Pergamum He appears with the sharp two-edged sword of judgment. Each feature of the portrait is made significant for the addresses.”—Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1957), 123.